Need a fileserver

[jidehassan]

I work in an audit office of about 15 people. They work a using excel. We want to now have everyone save their files on a central system(we tried at a time using google cloud). Currently short of cash to buy a a real server. So we intend to use a normal desktop system to serve as a file server. Is it safe for office computers to connect to this server wirelessly or rather by cable?Is this safe? What options do we have? What should be put into considerations?

 

[asoroka]

First you will need to have some sort of network infrastructure in your office. You probably already have that .

One component will be your router. All you computers will connect to it via wireless or by physical cable.

You could have your server connect via wireless, however I would recommend that you use a physical wired connection, mainly because you will have better bandwidth.

The security aspect can be taken care of, as long as you set appropriate passwords and file permissions. Your greatest security problem will be from people inside you company. If your router is protected then your internal network is safe enough.

I would recommend that you look at a dedicated NAS storage box rather than a general purpose computer as it wil be easier to set up and maintain.

Something like Synology DS918+

For your disks You should consider raid 1 or raid 10 configuration (never raid 5 or raid0).

Remember to back your data up somewhere.

 

[jidehassan]

With the regards to the server, I intended either building a desktop or just buy a ready made desktop(a reasonable high end one).
But from what you’re saying, rather than above, I should rather opt for a dedicated NAS storage box is what you’re saying. Is that correct? And for disks, I do not know about what you suggested but would read up online about them. Much thanks.

First you will need to have some sort of network infrastructure in your office. You probably already have that .

One component will be your router. All you computers will connect to it via wireless or by physical cable.

You could have your server connect via wireless, however I would recommend that you use a physical wired connection, mainly because you will have better bandwidth.

The security aspect can be taken care of, as long as you set appropriate passwords and file permissions. Your greatest security problem will be from people inside you company. If your router is protected then your internal network is safe enough.

I would recommend that you look at a dedicated NAS storage box rather than a general purpose computer as it wil be easier to set up and maintain.

Something like Synology DS918+

For your disks You should consider raid 1 or raid 10 configuration (never raid 5 or raid0).

Remember to back your data up somewhere.

 

[13thmonkey]

why never raid5?

By moving this onto your premises, you have the problem of backups etc. Did you try dropbox? It may behave differently.

 

[The Paladin]

Q: I intended either building a desktop or just buy a ready made desktop(a reasonable high end one)
A: For the price of a computer system you can pay for a nas solution, using RAID you ensure your data is protected and the data is centralized on the network. it will last longer, be better designed for max data flow on your network and be low maintenance.

This is your better solution over a PC on a desk sharing a hard drive.

 

[asoroka]

Yes a NAS box is a pc that has been pre-built to act as a file server.

All you need to do is add the appropriate number of disks.

If you have 2 disks, then you can join them together to look like one disk.

Raiid 0 - stripe means that half of data is written to one disk and the other half to the other. This is done at the sub-file level. If one disk fails, then you lose all your data. The two advantages are that you get to use all the storage you paid for and you get performance boost.


Raid 1 - mirrored. You write to one disk and it is automatically mirrored to the other disk. There is no performance increase and your storage size is 1/2 of the two disks. The advantage is that you can tolerate the failure of one disk without losing data.


Remember to design some sort of regular offsite backup (rotating external usb drive). So that if someone steals your server or both disks crash your business can keep going.

 

[jidehassan]

No did not try dropbox. We decided do save it on a local system.

 

[jidehassan]

Mmmm, a friend actually did make mention of this. But in terms of been scalable(size wise), you think NAS is still an option opting for? Thank you for the reply by the way.

 

[jidehassan]

Ok. Quite informative. Thank you. Would read up on it.

 

[asoroka]

A NAS can easily take you up to 40TB of storage, if you think you will nee dmore then you can get an 8 bay NAS.

Make sure that you get NAS rated disks, they are worth the extra expense.

 

[USAFRet]

A prebuilt NAS box is perfect for this application.
I have a Qnap TS-453A. 4 bay, with 4x4TB Seagate Ironwolf drives. RAID 5. (or RAID whatever you choose)

That box or similar would serve this perfectly.

Trying to shoehorn 15 users into a regular desktop PC as a fileshare will be a maintenance hassle.
Problems = downtime = loss of productivity.

Given this, though..
"Currently short of cash to buy a a real server."
These are not especially "cheap". The box + 4 drives would be about $900US.

How much downtime can your business survive?
What have you budgeted for redundancy and backups?
"oops...Mary let loose a virus on the main PC 'server'. "